300mm f4 IF-ED with 1.4 tc

Originally Posted by Peter7100

My 300 has arrived and I was out putting it through its paces this morning. Really like the lens but I have a lot of learning on bird photography to get anywhere near the standard you guys and girls produce with your stunning images. Anyway here is a few from first attempts.

I downloaded your photos then added them into your quote in hopes the EXIF data will display.

With the first one, ISO 4000 is kind of high for that body and am assuming it was shot in somewhat low light. And for all bird photos, you really should aim to stop down further than f/4. With a telephoto lens, your depth of field will be shallower especially when you add a TC.

The shutter speed of 1/500" is barely okay if you are hand holding the lens. The DX crop factor gives that 300mm lens a 450mm field of view (1.5 crop factor). It's generally a little better to allow yourself a little faster shutter speed especially since that lens doesn't have VR.

You're off to a good start though! Everyone has to start somewhere. Are you using BBF with AF-C? That is very helpful if and when the birds decide to take off (keeps AF tracking a moving subject). And when they do take off, you will want to increase your shutter speed to at least 1/1600" for birds in flight. Otherwise you will be dealing with motion blur. Once you get accustomed to shooting birds, you might want to cap your ISO so it doesn't go above a certain number. Mine is capped at either 4000 or 5000. When I reach that limit, my pics are underexposed. So no matter what, I deal with noise under those circumstances.

Have fun!

Originally Posted by hark

I downloaded your photos then added them into your quote in hopes the EXIF data will display.

With the first one, ISO 4000 is kind of high for that body and am assuming it was shot in somewhat low light. And for all bird photos, you really should aim to stop down further than f/4. With a telephoto lens, your depth of field will be shallower especially when you add a TC.

The shutter speed of 1/500" is barely okay if you are hand holding the lens. The DX crop factor gives that 300mm lens a 450mm field of view (1.5 crop factor). It's generally a little better to allow yourself a little faster shutter speed especially since that lens doesn't have VR.

You're off to a good start though! Everyone has to start somewhere. Are you using BBF with AF-C? That is very helpful if and when the birds decide to take off (keeps AF tracking a moving subject). And when they do take off, you will want to increase your shutter speed to at least 1/1600" for birds in flight. Otherwise you will be dealing with motion blur. Once you get accustomed to shooting birds, you might want to cap your ISO so it doesn't go above a certain number. Mine is capped at either 4000 or 5000. When I reach that limit, my pics are underexposed. So no matter what, I deal with noise under those circumstances.

Have fun!

I have never taken to BBF. I tried it years ago with my Canon bodies and never took to it. The light today was fairly poor hence the high ISO. I will certainly try and stop the aperture down a bit, however if I increase the shutter speed as well, I am going to be back to high ISO levels again. Unfortunately Scotland is not often blessed with wonderful bright days ☹️.
Thanks for the tips.

Originally Posted by blackstar

Ok, "A" mode and manual focus. Wonder how much time spent focusing b4 taking a shot? assuming you need to change focusing for every shot i.e., different birds, scenes. Thanks

No sorry I should have stated, it was auto focus set at AF-C.
I use the standard front button focus/shutter button.

Ah-ha! got it. (thought you must use some kind of AF)